Cats star in advertisements for IKEA, Sberbank and Mercedes-Benz, and an NFT of a flying nanny cat is sold for $580,000. Today, tailed cats are not only advertising stars, but also full-fledged bloggers with collaborations and integrations.
High subscriber engagement, virtually no hate and unlimited trust - this is what every potential influencer dreams of.
We collected the most famous Russian “cat profiles” on Instagram, found out from the owners how they achieved success on the social network, and at the same time asked marketers whether it is worth advertising with cat bloggers.
Hosico the cat, @hosico_cat, 1.9 million subscribers
“Fresh bread”, “cat carpet” and the most famous cat in Russia - the Scottish straight-eared Hoshiko from Moscow. By the way, his name means “son of a star” in Japanese.
You've probably seen memes with him:
His live broadcasts attract tens of thousands of viewers, the cat (and his owners, of course) are interviewed by famous portals, and Robert Downey Jr. publishes collages with images of Hoshiko.
Even Simon, the cat from the comics, talked to him.
Behind the blogger's shaggy shoulders is cooperation with large retail chains, manufacturers of household appliances, and the brands Mars and Whiskas.
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Posted by Hosico Cat (@hosico_cat)
Judging by the publications, the owners of Hoshiko take their choice of advertisers seriously. He promotes charity events, products for animals (food, houses, hygiene products), pet stores and, of course, clothes with his image.
Advertising for a charity event, external hard drive and cat merchandise
Shironeko - Zen master and the laziest cat
Shironeko (Shiro Neko) - a white cat (by the way, this is how his name is translated into Russian) - is a Zen master living in Japan. Considered the laziest cat in the world. All because of his ability to be completely restrained and a little sleepy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is facilitated by his muzzle, or rather, his always half-closed eyes.
According to his blog page, Shiro was born on March 8, 2002. A blog dedicated exclusively to this cat was created by an anonymous blogger and Shiro's anonymous owner on February 17, 2006. There is also a channel on YouTube.
Cat Busya, @ st_busya, 144 thousand subscribers
Golden chinchilla Busya wears amazing glasses, chooses outfits and tries on luxurious wigs.
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Posted by Busya (@st_busya)
Busya’s owner, Daria, says that initially the account was “human”. But one day a girl published a photo of Boo in her feed, then Boo gave birth to her first kitten, Peach. And then for some reason a lot of cat lovers started subscribing [to us]. Photos/videos of cats and kittens in my feed have completely replaced me. And my friends started unfollowing me.”
Daria says that she didn’t invest “a single ruble” into the blog and hardly promoted it at all, using only hashtags and geolocation marks.
The account has a lot of humorous content. Mistress Busi deliberately took her profile in this direction: “There is no negativity now. Previously, when I talked about raising kittens or just about life, there were people who disagreed. I tried to argue, but then I got tired of getting on my nerves and just banned her.”
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Posted by Busya️ (@st_busya)
Busya advertises products for animals, glasses, and pet stores.
I am often approached with various products for advertising. Sometimes the page is completely far from the topic. I refuse many people. Many of them are even offended!
[I agree] if I see that a product is potentially good, it may be of interest to my readers, and I often communicate with subscribers and roughly know what they would be interested in. Especially if I use this product myself.
I won't talk about a product that I wouldn't use.
Narnia
Source: instagram.com
This cat has an unusual mutation called chimerism. This happens due to the fusion of 2 embryos, due to which the animal acquires 2 types of DNA at once. The result is an unusual color - one half of the muzzle is completely black, and the other is gray. Narnia is a very young cat, but she is already actively participating in various exhibitions in her homeland - France.
Niki the cat, @famousniki, 90.1 thousand subscribers
Niki, the world-famous Russian cat (as his profile description says), talks about life on his own behalf, shares his experiences and answers questions from subscribers.
The cat became famous due to its “human” behavior:
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Posted by FamousNiki (@famousniki)
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Posted by FamousNiki (@famousniki)
Well-known media write about him: Daily Mail, The Mirror, Metro and others. In 2013, he helped raise funds to help victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.
On her blog, Niki advertises products for animals and for the home, pet stores, and participates in charity.
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Posted by FamousNiki (@famousniki)
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Posted by FamousNiki (@famousniki)
Snoopy
The most adorable cat.
He lives with his owner, who maintains a blog on Instagram and a Facebook page dedicated to the cat.
Cat Bridge, @cat_the_most, 58.3 thousand subscribers
Here is the profile of the current @ria.crimea correspondent, the boss of Kotonovosti, the builder of the Crimean Bridge, a “careerist and a bachelor.”
This cat blogger differs from his colleagues in his abundance of horizontal photographs and high busyness. With regularity, once a day (sometimes more often), he talks about the life of the peninsula, which is especially important during the latest weather troubles. It is also actively promoted by the RIA Novosti news agency.
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Posted by Cat Bridge (@cat_the_most)
Cat Businka, @mimibusik, 32.9 thousand subscribers
Businka’s owner once decided that “it’s enough to admire Businka alone. We need to bring its beauty to the masses.” Anastasia says that she was promoting her profile: she tried masfollowing, participated in giveaways and marathons.
Now the cat advertises pet stores and pet products. Busya also takes part in charity stories.
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Posted by BUSINKA THE CAT CAT BUSYA (@mimibusik)
But not every advertiser can appear on this profile.
Before agreeing to cooperate, I research the advertiser and consider whether I would use their product/service myself.
I will definitely refuse if they offer a barter that is unprofitable for Busya and me, or if it is a manufacturer of low-quality food and dubious medications (with unproven effectiveness or simply harmful).
Achilles the cat, @achillcat, 23.9 thousand subscribers
The white Hermitage cat from St. Petersburg has been unable to hear since birth, but, as the profile says, “feels subtly.”
Achilles has confidently predicted the outcome of 7 out of 8 Euro 2020 matches, and has already been invited to be the oracle at the Champions League final in 2022.
In his profile, the cat advertises pet products, publications and, of course, his predictions.
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Posted by Achilles AchillesTheCat (@achillcat)
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Posted by Achilles AchillesTheCat (@achillcat)
Lil Bub
This cat deserves love because of its unusual appearance. As a result of a genetic mutation, she has no teeth. Because of this, the tongue always hangs outward.
Source: instagram.com
Despite all the defects, the owner dotes on his pet. Users of social networks also adore her; she already has 1.7 million subscribers. They even made a documentary about the cat's life.
Fedya the cat, @fedja_kot, 22.6 thousand subscribers
The eternally surprised Fedya settled down perfectly in the house of Natalia from Rostov. In June of this year, he was noticed by the British publication The Mirror. They published a lot of material about this amazing cat and interviewed his owner.
After the article, Fedya gained incredible popularity, the number of his subscribers is growing (about a thousand people a day), they write about him, he and his hostess, of course, are invited to television filming.
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Publication from Fedya Kot (@fedja_kot)
The cat’s account was created a long time ago, but it was not very popular. The level of 70 subscribers lasted for about a year. But then, on the advice of a friend, Fede created a profile on TikTok, where he became famous. After this, the owners of the surprised cat received requests for articles.
We didn't do any promotion at all. I was just posting the cat.
I’m constantly trying to blog, at least clear out Direct, there are thousands of messages there. I try to respond to each one and read it.
Fedya has so far only had one integration with an online pet store, but offers, according to Natalya, are actively coming in. For now, only those related to animals. Fedya’s owner knows exactly which advertisers the cat will not cooperate with: “Those who are not close to us or have nothing to do with us.”
In addition, the owners are already thinking about creating a collection of goods with his image:
“So that this sweet face is always before your eyes and improves your mood,” Natalya plans to produce mugs with the image of Fedor.
Cat Ryzhik, @my_babycat, 15.8 thousand subscribers
The short-haired exotic Ryzhik from Arkhangelsk in amazing costumes will give any cosplayer a run for his money. Just look at the antidepressant or Wednesday Adams outfits:
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
Yulia, Ryzhik’s owner, says that she created an account for her pet to share his cute photos and never engaged in promotion.
The blog is still written for fun. If I want, I film and post it, if I don’t want, I don’t.
Ryzhik advertises products for animals, eco-friendly cleaning products, veterinary clinics, animal insurance, photo products, home decor - only what matches the profile, has benefits and a positive message.
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
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Posted by Ryzhik exotic shorthair (@my_babycat)
Why is everyone obsessed with cats?
According to statistics, cat videos are the most popular video content on the Internet. It is interesting that watching such videos has a therapeutic effect, which is similar in effect to pet therapy (a treatment method using pets).
Back in 2011, an advertising company from Canada, JohnSt, came up with the term catvertising (cat + advertising, from English “cat advertising”), since cats, in their opinion, turned out to be “the most popular media carrier on the Internet.”
The team shot a comic video in which they showed what was supposedly a new special division of the company: the cat video department. With production, filming and seeding.
The video received many positive comments in the spirit of “80% of what I watch on YouTube are cats” or “even in 2020, half of the videos offered to me have cats!”
By the way, there is an opinion, supported by research, that cats sell better than dogs.
In Russia, as well as throughout the world, cats hold a strong position in the blogosphere.
Honey Bee
A blind cat who loves to travel.
Owners take the cat on hikes on a leash or put it on their shoulder.
Is it worth spending your advertising budget on cats?
On social networks, people primarily want to rest, relax, get away from problems, and learn something useful or interesting. Rarely does anyone go to Instagram, for example, with the thought: “What should I buy today?”
Advertisers constantly forget about this obvious fact, trying to set up annoying “head-on” sales on social networks. There are more and more advertisements, and they are perceived by the audience only as annoying noise.
Something non-standard, memorable, and funny will help to attract the attention of a potential buyer. Advertising from animal bloggers definitely meets all these criteria.
Subscribers of four-legged stars are very loyal and attached to unusual bloggers: animals are envied much less often than successful people, interest in them is more sincere and pure. In addition, cats and dogs are objectively less often seen in advertising, therefore, they still have a high level of credibility.
I recommend testing and trying to promote even non-obvious things through pets. It all depends on how to present the product. You can do an original unboxing or make a funny TikTok-style video with viral potential.
Among the projects I collaborate with are pet products and dog bloggers. I can say for sure: now there is a trend towards interaction between humans and animals on the blog. Subscribers watch with interest the lives of owners and pets, their travels, joyful moments and difficulties. Therefore, advertising integrations with such bloggers are going great, and not only pet stores, food, ammunition, dog handlers and animal psychologists are successfully promoted.
The audience is ready, for example, to purchase the same vacuum cleaner that a pet owner uses, household chemicals that are safe for animals, and a sofa with upholstery that can be easily cleaned of hair and stains.
I see that completely different advertisers are entering this niche and successfully promoting it.
Whether it is worth investing in advertising on a particular blog should be decided based not on whether it is an account of an animal, a person, or a neural network, but on the goals of the brand and the portrait of the blog’s audience.
If a cosmetics brand, a household goods brand, or an electronics manufacturer understands that a significant part of the account’s followers is their target audience, and the brands themselves adhere to eco-principles and do not test products on animals, then buying advertising and PR in the account is justified. The audience of such accounts is indeed very loyal, the integrations will be native and organic, advertising and PR will be perceived by the audience positively and loyally.
If a brand wants to buy advertising on an animal blog only from the principle “I want it like my neighbor’s,” that is, only because a competitor did it or it’s fashionable, the expenses will be inappropriate.
Or maybe it’s better to post on the account of a dog or... a hamster?
Cats or dogs? According to statistics, those people who do not have animals react better to cats (since we all saw advertisements for cat food in childhood, pleasant associations and nostalgia are triggered). But if you take a sample of people who have animals, they react better to dogs on creatives, plus the conversion into a buyer and the average check are much higher.
I am sure that creating a working brand is possible for almost any animal. Both kittens and puppies are equally adorable, and if you reveal their character, personality, humanize them, publish quality content and thoughtfully blog, then success can come even to an ordinary mongrel.
Perhaps the advantage of cats over dogs is explained by the fact that their owners and teams working on blogs are stronger SMM specialists. In the end, it is people, not their pets, who make social media popular.
In my opinion, cats, dogs or even hamsters can sell and deliver key brand messages almost equally. But cats are, of course, the undisputed favorites here. Why?
The domestic cat is the embodiment of hedonism, an animal that decorates the life of its owner and enjoys its own. It's decorative. Cats, like no other animal, are about “cuteness”, “vanilla” and strong emotions of this kind. Dogs are primarily associated with loyalty and intelligence. Therefore, for the most part, the audience reacts better to cats.
Animals don't leave anyone alone, so they can help convey almost any key message.
The mechanics are simple: a person sees a cute kitten or puppy, smiles, and then, in a more positive mood, moves on to the message itself. In general, if we add any living object to the key message, be it a brand ambassador or an ordinary person, it will work better, especially if we add animals.
Venus
A cat with two faces.
This cat, originally from South Carolina, has a unique color that perfectly divides her face into two halves - black and red.
The cat's eye is also a different color.
She came to her owner by chance when the woman saw a photo of stray kittens, and she really liked the kitten with such an interesting color.
Summary: consider the specifics
Cats are “the unofficial symbol of the Internet.” They offer an excellent way to communicate on social networks, an audience that is in love with them, and room for imagination in the implementation of advertising posts.
However, when choosing a cat blogger for integration, it is worth remembering the specifics of such cooperation. Yes, his audience will be loyal and friendly. But if the product categorically does not fit into the account, even if its owner agrees to advertising, subscribers, at best, will not pay attention to it, and at worst, they will want integration.
Garfi
The most evil cat.
But the appearance of this cat is deceiving; in fact, it is a very friendly and cute cat.
He lives in Turkey, he has a big family and many tailed friends.